Picture Credit Chrys Ngwa
IWish, the “one of a kind” collaborative iniative between Cork Chamber, IT@Cork, UCC, CIT, Cork City Council and Cork County Council took place in the City Hall today.
It brought the combined power of the public sector, academia and industry together to inspire and encourage young women to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (“STEM”). The Minister of Education, Jan O’ Sullivan, welcomed IWish as a “broad and balanced platform that had the ability to transform the perception of a STEM career”.
The event is the brain child of Gillian Keating, President of Cork Chamber of Commerce, Caroline O’ Driscoll (KPMG) and Ruth Buckley (Cork City Council). The one thousand female students that had the opportunity to attend today heard Dr. Pixie McKenna share her own experiences and encourage the students to do their best, to think beyond traditional structures and explore the world of STEM.
George Boole was on hand to meet and greet the students and introduce a strong UCC presence. Representations from the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, the Electrical Engineering Team, Insight Data Centre and Tyndall provided engaging opportunities for students. Visitors were enthralled by Electrical Engineering’s smart toys who gave a flavour of what happens to an off the shelf toy when an engineer gets involved. All the pods were designed to have maximum interaction and experts on hand to answer all queries. A fantastic display for the young women of the region. George Boole, father to five girls, would have been delighted to see the opportunities that exist today in STEM areas, as it stands his daughters were pioneers in their own fields. To find out more about the story of the Boole girls, just follow the link.
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